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Teaching Survey Statistics by Teleteaching: A jointproject at three German universities

Ulrich Rendtel

Freie Universitat BerlinEconomic Department

Institute for Statistics and Econometrics

Lecture held at BANOCOSS Meeting 2012Valmiera Latvia, 27. August 2012

Ulrich Rendtel (FU Berlin) Survey Statistics by Teleteaching 1 / 23

The background of the project

The Teleteaching concept

Needs and Technical aspects

Future aspects



Growing importance of survey data

Surveys have become more frequent

cheaper sampling procedurescheap data storagepowerful computersintelligent questionnaire toolscombination with register information

Surveys have become a more important source of information, esp. inEurope growing need for comparative analysis in the European Union.

Easier access to micro data by research data centers :

distribution of campus files via internetdistribution of scientific use files via CDbatch job computing at data centerremote access at safe off-site environmenton-site computing at data center



Survey Statistics at (German) universities

Survey statistics are rarely taught at German universities at present!

With the introduction of Bachelor and Master grades in Germanythere are emerging specialized master programs(For example, 6 Master programs at the economic faculty of the FU)



Options

Classical summer schools (Ann Arbor, Southampton, BANOCOSS)

Specialized master program at one university: A least 3 professors areneeded!Note: there is no university in Germany with 3 survey statisticians atdocent level!

Distributed program at different universities:

Traditional: docents travel to students or students to docents(expensive!).Video conference: Not suited for the presentation of formulas, tables,etc.Virtual classroom: Not integrated in the regular teaching schedule.Teleteaching: to be explained later!




The Teleteaching conceptDistributed teachingThe didactics


Future aspects


The Teleteaching concept Distributed teaching

Three docents at three universities in three federal states!



”MiSS BBT”

Master in Survey Statistics Bamberg/Berlin/Trier



Three professors with different profiles

Susanne Rassler (Bamberg): Bayesian Statistics, Multiple Imputation,Item Nonresponse, Statistical Matching, R

Ralf Munnich (Trier): Small Area Estimation, Variance Estimation,Simulation, R

Ulrich Rendtel (Berlin): Panel Surveys, Weighting, Unit Nonresponse,SAS



The joint teaching program

university summer term winter term

changing Introduction to sampling theory

Bamberg Seminar on Item Nonre-sponse

Bayes Statistics and MultipleImputation

Berlin Calibration and Weigh-ting

Panel Surveys or

Survey statistics with SAS

Trier Variance estimation Small Area Estimation orIntroduction to Monte Carlo Si-mulation



Teaching in 3 different federal states (1/2)

In Germany education is regulated by the federal states with separatelegislation. This results in different admission rules, study fares, semesterintervals, examination rules, etc.Consequence: It is not possible to run this master program under a uniquelegal frame (Studien- und Prufungsordnung)!Therefore: The joint teaching is integrated into 3 independent masterprograms:

Bamberg: Master in Survey statistics(http://www.uni-bamberg.de/miss)Berlin: Master in Statistcs (http://www.stat.de/en/) This is ageneral statistical program where survey statistics was integrated asone out of 5 specialisation fields.Trier: Master in Survey Statistics(http://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=36139)

However, there is a joint internet platform with the joint timetable:http://master.surveystatistics.net/MiSS/lehre.html


http://www.uni-bamberg.de/miss

http://www.stat.de/en/

http://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=36139

http://master.surveystatistics.net/MiSS/lehre.html


Teaching in 3 different federal states (2/2)

Different term schedules between states, different holidays.

Because of a missing joint legal frame: no mandatory status ofexaminations outside the state.

Different learning management systems at each university. (Stud.IP(Trier), Virtual Campus (Bamberg), Blackboard (Trier))

Different agencies for the accreditation of the master programs.

At the moment (after 3 years) no formal cooperation treaty betweenuniversities.


The Teleteaching concept The didactics

Teaching channels

Visual, audio and separate blackboard channel!

Classical video conference (Conference node at Trier)Virtual Network Computing (VNC) (Freeware: VNC viewer and server)

Bi-directional teaching to enforce interaction

Tablet PC with PDF annotator software (70 Euro)Still some time lag in transmission of screen.

Occasionally: joint meetings (seminar in summer term)



The 2 screens (1/2)

Blackboard Channel + video conference



The 2 screens (2/2)

Teaching from Berlin, listening in Bamberg



The Bamberg studio



A dynamic video screen

A software (Polycom) regulates the different screens of the videoconference:

The teacher gains 2/3 the area. The ”most active” listener gets alarger part than the more quiet listeners.

At the teaching site only the listeners sites are displayed, withemphasis to the most active listener.

There are limitations to the number of listening sites, simply by thescreen area.



A different teaching style

The teacher should be more present at the blackboard channel. Heshould not walk around the classroom and explain with gestures.

The students should not talk with low voice, as the microphone willnot transmit their contribution.

The students should dare to use the tablet screen (rather seldom upto now).





Needs and Technical aspectsNeedsTechnical Aspects

Future aspects


Needs and Technical aspects Needs

Needs of resources

Three rooms with video conference equipment at all sites at thesame time (Mo 12-16, Tues 14-18, Wed 12-16).Universities will provide such facilities in general. It only the problemto get fixed slots.

Technical staff for the video equipment and room access.Such staff is present at central facilities.

Student assistants for the tablet PC’s and the running of the VNC.Often some participant of the class has taken over this responsibility.


Needs and Technical aspects Technical Aspects

Technical aspects

The whole system is sensitive with respect to technical failures!Meanwhile some routine has been established.

At the beginning in winter term 2010/2011 all kind of technicalfailures occurred!

VNC + connectivity: firewalls, internet access, etc.VNC + screen and beamer resolutionVNC + tablet calibrationAcoustic feedback and microphonesLightening of rooms

The students were very patient in case of technical problems.


Future aspects

Podcasting

Production of a video stream of the blackboard channel plus voice.

Easily done with CAMTASIA software (100 EURO): 90 minutes =1.2GB

Downsizing to an MP4-file: 70 MB

Download via Internet for class participants


Future aspects

Extension of the network?

Technically easy!

More coordination needs with each additional partner.

Until now: German language is used.

Non-academic partners: German statistical office showed interest.


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